What’s Computer Program – A computer program (often abbreviated as a program) or processing system is a set or sequence of instructions written to perform a specific function on a computer. A program is a necessity for a computer to carry out its main functions as a computing device. The way it works is by executing a series of instructions and functions inside the processor.
For a computer to directly execute a program, it usually has a certain form of the execution model. A source code is a human-readable form of a computer program. The form allows programmers to analyze and study the algorithms that the program is using. Through a specific programming language compiler, the source code transforms into an executable program. Another alternative form of the execution model of a program is by using an interpreter. The interpreter utility of the programming language used is then directly executing the source code.
Several computer programs can run on a computer at the same time. Multitasking is the ability of a computer to run several programs at the same time. The categorization of Software or Computer Programs according to their function are; system software or application software.
Computer Programming
Computer programming is an iterative process of writing and editing source code to form an executable program. Source code editing includes the process of testing, analyzing, correcting errors, optimizing algorithms, and normalizing code. Sometimes even coordinating one programmer with other programmers if several people in a team are working on a program. A computer programmer or programmer, software developer, or coder is a term referring to a person who has the expertise to write code in a programming language. The term software engineering is often used because the process of writing the program is an engineering discipline.
Programming Paradigm
Computer programs can be categorized according to the paradigm of the programming language they use. The two main paradigms that are commonly used are imperative and declarative.
Programs written in imperative programming languages usually have algorithms written in a series of declaration clauses, arithmetic expressions, and several commands. Declarations include variable declarations and data types for these variables.
for example, var x: integer;
The use of an arithmetic operation expression that produces a value, for example, 2 + 2 produces a value of 4.
And the command that covers the delegation of the value of the result of the arithmetic operation into a variable, for example, x:= 2 + 2; if x = 4 then do_something();
One form of criticism of this imperative implementation is the side effects that arise from delegating commands to variables that are outside the scope of the function or better known as non-local variables.
Programs written in declarative languages need to satisfy several properties to obtain a certain form of result. These properties do not reflect a picture of how the program works but rather a form of mathematical relational declaration of several objects through its properties. The two main sections of declarative programming are functional programming languages and logic programming languages. The basic principle behind a functional programming language (Haskell) is to avoid side effects like those found in the imperative programming model. Thereby making it easier to use to create programs that perform several mathematical operations.
Meanwhile, the principle of a logical programming language (Prolog) is to define the problems to be solved, and the goals to be achieved. And let the system analyze the detailed solutions to these problems. The main goal of a program defines by making several smaller goals. Then each of these goals further defines other smaller goals, and so on. If a defined goal directive fails to find a solution to a problem, then the smaller child destination directives will be retraced, and other directives will be experimented with.
The form of creating a program can be textual or visual. Visual programming is creating a program by manipulating the program elements graphically. While textual programming is creating programs using manually written text.
Execution and Storage
Before an operating system executes a program, the computer’s main memory (RAM) usually stores it first inside. The processor then executes the program, instruction by instruction until there is a termination request for the program. Termination or termination of the execution of a program usually occurs either due to a request from the user, user interruption, an error in the program itself, or an error in the hardware used. A program that the processor executes calls a process.
Manual Programming
Initially, a manual input to the main processor uses several switches to represent the instructions for the on/off configuration status of a program. Then pressing the execute button after setting the configuration. This process is carried out iteratively. Historically, computer programs have also been written on paper tape or punched cards. Pressing the execute button once the punch card and the execution start address are inside the computer.
Automatic Programming
Generative programming is a typical form of computer programming that creates source code through generic classes, prototypes, aspects, templates, and code generators to increase programmer productivity. The source code generated by the programming utility is for example a template processor in an IDE. The macro processor found in the C programming language is the simplest form of it.
Simultaneous Execution
Generally, the operating systems that exist today already support the use of multitasking. Which allows several computer programs to run at the same time on a computer. To be able to run several of these programs at the same time the operating system utilizes a process scheduling mechanism. Which is a mechanism that will regulate the processor in processing. So that several of these computer programs can interact with the user when they are running. On the hardware side, today’s modern processors generally support multiple processor cores which allows them to run several programs at once.
A computer program can perform simultaneous calculations on several types of operations at the same time by utilizing threads or as separate processes. Generally, existing processors support an optimized multithreading architecture to run multiple threads efficiently.
